Congratulations to Barry O'Farrell & his team for their historic win in NSW Elections. Mr O'Farrell fended off all criticism of being too cautious in a winnable situation & kept his team untied & well disciplined & led them to one of the biggest swings in election history in Australia. Many seats in the labor heartland were won by the Liberals or coalition & many others had double digit swings away from labor. In the past few days however, the sad news is that the same usual suspects who have brought Labor to its knees & in the process have almost destroyed NSW, are playing the same old blame games relieving themselves of all accountability. A the same time, they have chosen another hand picked leader, a more influential & powerful puppet this time, i.e. John Robertson as the designated opposition leader.
Frank Sartor, Morris Iemma & others have raised very valid points about this same "job for the boys" powerbrokers, with Sartor writing an open letter to Obeid in SMH.
Most sansationally , Paul Keating in his usual frank manner, in an interview with Leigh Sales on ABC's 7.30 report on Tuesday night summed up the situation (& relieved me from trying to "yet again" highlight the plight of NSW Labor & the damage the likes of Arbib, Bitar, Robertson, Riordan, Obeid, Bitar, Roozendaal & co have done to both Labor party & NSW. Here's a wrap up of Paul Keating's interview on 7.30 report tonight:
NSW Labor leadership front runner John Robertson has been rejected as a political "fly-by nighter" by former prime minister Paul Keating. In an upfront interview with ABC Television, Mr Keating launched a heated attack on the former NSW transport minister, saying if he got the top job, NSW Labor would have "no future". Mr Keating said he stood by a letter he wrote to Mr Robertson in 2008 that stated: "If the Labor Party's stocks ever get so low as to require your services in its parliamentary leadership, it will itself have no future." "Correct,"
Mr Keating reaffirmed on Tuesday. "Jumping on and off buses and trains as transport minister doesn't give you any authority to be leader." He said the "dead men and women" of the state Labor Party - those who lost their seats in the weekend's election - hung round Mr Robertson's neck. But Mr Keating denied he'll quit the party should Mr Robertson accede to the leadership. "No, I'm a life member. "I'll see fly-by nighters out well and truly."
Questioned on the state election that saw Labor booted from government in a landslide after 16 years in government, the former Labor PM said party machinations had torn the party from the inside out. "The Labor government of NSW had its moral authority torn away from it. "The rot set in when (Eric) Roozendaal became (ALP national) secretary, followed by (Mark) Arbib and then (Karl) Bitar," Mr Keating said, adding the group was characterised by their belief "in nothing". "They're not about policy, they're just about winning the next election."
